What is concept mapping?

Why Use graphic Organizers? - Why use graphic
organizers in student projects? Shouldn't students be writing paragraphs
and reports? There are a number of answers to these questions.

The graphic organizer speeds up communication. Graphic organizers
help people organize and remember information.

Help students and teachers develop organizational skills.

They explain complex relationships among elements and help make connections
between and among concepts

Graphic organizers can clarify concepts that cannot be communicated
through words.

Supports the process of activating background knowledge for unfamiliar
material

Organizers are a way to encourage students to think about information
in new ways. With writing, it's easy for students to copy from one place
to another. With graphic organizers, you remove the words and focus
on the connections. T

They can be a great tool for activities that ask students to review
concepts and demonstrate their understanding. They can easily make changes
and take different perspectives.

A huge amount of information can be shared on a single picture to
provide the "big view" of a topic.

It is easy to edit, revise, and quickly add to a visual map.

They are not very messy and easy to convert to outline form.

They are great for visual thinkers or those that need to practice
their visual thinking.

1. We will make a simple web all about you. Start Inspiration
(at the ETTC this is done by left double clicking on the shortcut found
on the desktop).

2. Inspiration automatically starts the first symbol. Take a look
and review the screen elements and diagram toolbar buttons page provided
at the end of this packet.

3. Click in the main idea box. You may need to drag over the
words Main Idea and press the delete key. Now type a title
(all about me, your name, whatever).

Creating Symbols

Rapid Fire Command

1. We will use the Rapid Fire Button to generate some categories
for you to fill in. Make sure the title box you just typed in is selected
(boxes and diamonds appear around the edges of the box).

2. Click on the Rapid Fire button. Now type foods
and press the enter key. Type music and press the enter key.
Enter in three or four more categories. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE MORE THAN
FOUR CATEGORIES. Click on the Rapid Fire Button when done.

3. Notice how Inspiration puts a category at each corner of the main
idea box. After four, it starts to overlap. You can move boxes
around. Point to the middle of one of the overlapping boxes (one
of the last categories you entered). Drag the box to the side.
The link arrow will automatically move.

4. Point to the lower right box on the symbol and drag
to change the size of the symbol.

5.Select one of the boxes. Press the delete key.
The box is erased. From the Edit menu choose Undo. YOU
CAN NOT UNDO EVERY ACTION AND YOU CAN ONLY UNDO ONE ACTION (not multiple
actions).

6. Symbols will snap to a grid when the Grid Snap option is turned
on. To turn Grid Snap or Grid Lines off or on, Click on Utility
option on menu bar. Choose Grid Snap or Grid Line to
turn them on or off. You can also turn Grid Lines on to guide manual
symbol placement.

Other Ways To Create Symbols

1. Now we will add specific items to each subject. Click on the
Foods symbol. Now find the Create buttons on the toolbar.

2. You can click on any of the arrows on the Create button.
It will create a symbol with a link in the direction the arrow is pointing.

3.Add a few symbols with foods you like. You can
change the size of the symbol or arrange the position of the symbol if
you need to.

4. Add a couple of items to other categories using the Create buttons.

5. You can also click anywhere on the grid and start to
type. Click near your music symbol. Start typing a group/individual/music
type you like. This adds a symbol with no link. Add a
few symbols without links (we will link them next).

Working With Links

1. You can add a link between two symbols. Click on the Link
button. Click on the musicsymbol you just created with
no link box. Now click on the main music category symbol you are
linking to. An arrow (link) should appear.

2. Another way to create links is by drawing them. Select
the symbol where you want the link to originate. Four diamond
shapes will appear on the sides of the symbol. Position pointerover any of the diamonds on the symbol from which you want
the link to originate. Hold down mouse button and drag to the
symbol you are linking toand release the mouse button.

3. You can delete a link by clicking on the link to
select it and then pressing the delete key on the keyboard. We
will work more with links in part 2.

Saving Your Work

1. You can save your file as an Inspiration file (Inspiration
has its own file extension) or export it to a different type.
Both options are found in the File Menu.

2. Click on the File Menu and choose Save.

3.Save your work to the desktop. Use your
first and last name as the file name.

2.Click on one of the food boxes you created. Look at the
symbol toolbar. Click on the blacktriangle that points down.
A list of libraries appears, choose a food library. Click on a
foodsymbol. Because the food box was selected, it changed.

3. You can also drag a symbol from the toolbarto the grid
to create a new box. Try adding an item to one of your categories this
way.

4. You can format the text and symbols. Select the boxes to be
changed. Use the Font Menu options.

5. Each color of a symbol can be changed. Select a symbol
and then click on the Multi-Color Symbol tool. (the paintbrush).
A list of all colorsappears, select a color and
a palette pops up. Choose a newcolor.

6. You can select multiple symbolsby dragging over multiple
symbols. Also try holding down the shift key while clicking
on multiple symbols.

Formatting and Moving Symbols

1. Many options are found in the Format Menu (you can also
right click on a box and choose Font). Change some of the
boxes.

2. The symbols can be changed using the Draw toolbar
or the Effects Menu. Try changing the size of the lines surrounding
the symbols, the fill colors (changes just selected symbols) or the background
(changes entire background).

View Options

1. You can use the Position button to move the diagram around.
This is helpful for large diagrams.

2. Use the Zoom button (lower left corner) to change the size
of the screen. You can find the same commands in the View Menu.

3. The Outline button changes the view to outline mode. Click
on the Diagram button to go back to the diagram view (more on outlines
in part 2)

Spell Check and Printing

1. You can check the spelling using Spell Check from the Utility
Menu.\

2. Now choose Print Options from the File Menu and select
options (such as fit on one page).

Review

1. Type in Types of Weather as the main idea.

2. Click on the Rapid Fire button and type in the types of
weather.

3. Click on the Rapid Fire button again to turn it off.

4. Click on the Arrange button.

5. Choose the Web Selection and click OK.

6. Go through the different libraries and change the symbols. Remember
to click on the box first and then choose the symbol from the library.

7. Some of the symbols are animated. Go to the Basic Library. Point
to the light bulb for a minute. It should change. To turn off the
animation feature, click on the File Menu and choose Application
Properties. Uncheck the Animate GIFs box.

8. Make a few of the symbols larger or smaller (click once on the
symbol to select it then point to a corner box and drag.). Remember you
can move the symbols by pointing to the middle of the symbol and dragging.

9.Change the color of the text for a few of the symbols
(Select the text and click on the Text color button on the draw
toolbar or select Text Color from the Effect Menu).

10. Select
the Fog symbol. Change the line and fill color (use the
buttons on the draw toolbar or use the commands found
in the Effect Menu. Change the fill color for the main idea box.

11. Select
the Tornado symbol. Click on the Multicolor button (draw
toolbar) to change the colors of the Tornado symbol (this can not
be done in Inspiration 5).

12. Change
the colors on another symbol.

13. Use the
Create buttons to add another weather type. Format the type you
just added.

14. Click on
the Text Box button on the draw toolbar.

15.Drag
above the main web to create a box. Click inside the box and type
in your title.

16.Change
the font type and font size (these commands are found in the
Format Menu).

17.Save
your web and close the document.

Outline View

1. We will now set up a book report web. Start a new document.
Choose a symbol from the library and click on it. Click on
the New Look button.

2. Pick your favorite book. Type in the title and
author name in the first box (I refer to this box as Story
Title box later on).

3. Click on the Outline button.

4. Add the following categories: characters, plot, location. Click
on the Add Topic button to add new categories.

5. Click on the characters category so it is selected. Click on
the Add Sub button and type in a character from the book. Click
the Add Sub button and add another character.

6. Fill in a couple of subtopics for each of the other categories.

7. Topics can be moved by dragging them to a new location (if you
drag a topic under another topic, it becomes a subtopic.

8. You can make a topic a subtopic by selecting it and clicking on
the Move Right button on the Outline toolbar. The Move Left button
will make a subtopic a topic.

9. You can check the spelling of your outline by clicking on the
Spell button on the Outline toolbar. Follow the directions
in the dialogue box to continue.

10. When finished
go to the Diagram view.

11. Fill in
the boxes as shown in the example. Be sure to format the symbols and
text. Do not worry about the writing that appears on the arrows (we
will add that in a minute).

12. To add
text to an arrow – click once in the middle of the arrow,
a dotted box should appear. Type in your text. You can format
the text if you want.

13. You can
also move arrows. Point to the arrow connecting the Story
Title symbol and the main characters symbol. Click once. A green
dot and red boxes should appear.

14. Point to
the green dot and drag. The position of the text along
the arrow should change.

15. Make sure
the main characters symbol is still selected. Point to the red box
at the end of the arrow (the end connected to the Story Title box).
Hold down the mouse button. Gray boxes should appear around the Story
Title box. Drag the arrow to any of the boxes. Try dragging
the red box on the other end of the arrow.

AutoArrange, Views and Notes

16. Click on
the Arrange button and select a tree diagram style.

17. You can
add notes to boxes. Select the Story Title box.
Click on the Add Notes button. Type in a note and close
the Notes box. The box in the upper left corner should
now be filled.

18. To view
notes, click on the View Menu and select Notes List.
Change the View back to diagram.

19. Open the
View Menu and choose Focus In. Choose Focus Out
from the View Menu to go back to the whole diagram.

20.Select
all of the symbols. Open the Symbol Menu and choose Evenly
Space. Try horizontal or vertical.

21. You can
change the type of link arrow connecting boxes. Select one
of your arrows.

22. Open the
Link Menu. Try some of the different options.

Importing Graphics and Special Symbols

1.Save the Inspiration web. Minimize Inspiration
and open the Internet. Go to http://webclipart.about.comFind a
graphic you like and save it to the desktop.

2. Open the Edit Menu and choose Insert Graphic. Navigate
to the graphic you saved on the desktop. Double click
on the file to insert it.

1. You can add hyperlinks to your web. Add a symbol
box to your web. Type in the following addresswww.classroom.net. The address should be
automatically underlined and colored blue.

2.Select any text. Open the Utility Menu and choose
Internet. Click on URLHyperlink. Type in a web
address (such as www.usatoday.com). To remove the link, select
the text that has the hyperlink. Open the Utility Menu and
choose Internet. Select URL Hyperlink and click Remove
Hyperlink.

3. You can save your document as an HTML file.
This is the format needed to publish the Inspiration document to the Internet.

4. Open the File Menu and choose Export. Click
on the file format type you want and click on OK.

5. We can also export our work in Outline View as a text file. To
do so, let's go to Outline View and choose Export from the File menu.

6. Select the format to save the outline. Select Outline Formats
on the left, different Format Options appear on the right. If we export
our outline as Plain Text, we can choose whether or not we want to export
our prefixes.

8. When you export your outline for use in PowerPoint, your main
idea becomes the presentation title and each first level topic - Spanish
Club, Marching Band, etc - becomes a separate slide. Second level and
lower topics become slide content. Your students can use Inspiration to
plan and prepare their presentations and then export their work to PowerPoint
where they'll then simply format their slides. (Return to the outline.)